


The Meeting

by ChocolateCoveredPortals



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-16
Updated: 2013-05-16
Packaged: 2018-01-23 19:58:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1577624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChocolateCoveredPortals/pseuds/ChocolateCoveredPortals
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Moments after being freed from Aperture, Chell meets a strange man with a briefcase. [ONESHOT]</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Meeting

Freedom.

Finally.

Chell stepped outside the shed, raising her face to the sun, filling her lungs with fresh air. Not air laced with adrenal vapor and ground up moon rocks and asbestos, but real, fresh air from the outside. She had been so certain that Her Highness wouldn't have kept her deal, but the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System had.

There was a _thud._ Chell turned back, towards the shed, its corrugated metal blinding her for a split second, to see her old Companion Cube, scorched from the incinerator, small cloud of black dust, still radiating heat, tumble out after her. And then suddenly everything turned dark.

A man with a briefcase approached, straightening his tie. Chell remained silent, staring at him.

"So, Miss Chell, we meet at last." The man's voice had a very odd intonation in his words; not entirely unlike GLaDOS' voice, but different; it was as though he wasn't entirely comfortable with the English language, a strange, halting pattern in his gravelly voice that, along with the fact that he did not look like any sort of human- a man, but not a human- altogether frightened Chell and made her wary. "I... understand that you had been promised your... _free_ dom." The last word was accompanied by a sort of amused chuckle. "However, my... hmm, _em_ ployers have been following your progress, and they are... hmm, shall I say... _im_ pressed. I cannot say I am surprised; I myself will admit that I have a... fascination with those who adapt and survive against all odds; they rather remind me of myself."

Chell remained frozen to the spot. Calm. Stay calm.

"Under... hmm, normal circumstances, I would offer you the... illusion of free choice. But these are extraordinary times, so I will... hmm, take the liberty of choosing for you. I apologize for what must seem an arbitrary imposition, Miss Chell, rather an... anti-climax after what you've just survived, but I'm sure you can imagine there are worse alternatives."

The strange man walked away, disappearing into a glowing green portal.


End file.
